“3 Body Downside” production designer Deborah Riley is no stranger to creating epic environments — she’s won four consecutive Emmys for her work on “Game of Thrones.”
The new Netflix series reunites Riley with creators David Benioff and DB Weiss. “This show was huge in terms of hot and cold environments and its scope and scale, but I had no idea what the term meant until ‘3 Body Downside,’” says Riley, evaluating both shows.
Adapted from Cixin Liu’s Chinese-language sci-fi saga, the sequel begins with the Cultural Revolution. Young scientist Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) watches as her father is crushed to death in front of a crowd by the Red Guard. She is sent to a top-secret base on the Red Coast, where she discovers that Chinese authorities have been sending out transmissions in hopes of making contact. The genius idea suggests pointing it at the sun and so a series of events unfolds, with metaworld games playing a big part in all of this.
Today, Jin (Jess Hong) and Jack (John Bradley) are among those wearing glowing VR gaming headsets that transport them to a modern digital gaming world. “The headset was something we did early on,” explains Riley. She looked at the history of headphones, especially at NASA and how their designs developed. Riley adds: “It was clear that what the fellows were considering was very simple. It had to be so technologically advanced that we would never be able to understand how it was made.”
Furthermore, Benioff, Weiss and fellow creator Alexander Woo knew they wanted everything in the design to be fully integrated. Says Riley: “They wanted the headset to be multifunctional, so the sound and vision came through a single device.”
The headphones were made of steel and dipped in liquid mirror coating. But the mirrored surface reflected the team, so the visual results team had to work to remove these unwanted elements.
John Bradley as Jack Rooney sporting a futuristic-looking VR headset made of steel.
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When it came to portraying the Cultural Revolution, Riley knew he had an unlimited responsibility to paint it authentically. Although she had books on Maoist propaganda that included posters and other images, Riley found it more valuable to work with her colleagues to build and capture that authenticity. She says: “I relied a lot on director Derek Tsang, who was able to guide us, and I was lucky to have a Chinese art director, Chapman Kan, to work with.” For all of the propaganda graphics in the scene, Riley utilized a Chinese graphics division that created the artwork.
Production designer Deborah Riley relied on the show’s Chinese graphic design team to create the Cultural Revolution propaganda images.
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The world of digital reality was Riley’s biggest problem.
When Jin and Jack advance to the third stage of the game in the third episode, the pair are transported back in time to the 13th century – Shangdu, also known as Xanadu, the capital of the Mongol empire. That’s where they meet Kublai Khan, the emperor.
Production designer Deborah Riley created the porch deck using smart devices. The rest was constructed through visual effects.
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Initially, she wanted to build the temple and its entire dome as a 360-degree observation deck. Ultimately, for production purposes, she ended up just building a balcony for on-camera shots; the visual effects team filled the rest of the scene with crowds and expanses of scenery. Riley researched books on Mongolian timber framing for this set that became her guide. The dome’s balcony was also considered one of its largest buildings.
Production designer Deborah Riley tested Mongolian wood framing to build a balcony.
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Shepperton Studios in the UK. It became the basis for many of Riley’s films, but exteriors were also filmed in London, New York, Florida and Spain.
At the beginning of the third episode, when Jack and Jin are transported to a medieval world where they meet Pope Gregory, the scene was filmed at Wells Cathedral in Somerset, United Kingdom. “We introduced the cape that the Pope sits under, and it was a gold-plated item that we were able to bring back later. But this cape was something we tested a lot because I had to make sure the Pope could easily sit on the throne, and I worked with costume designer Michael Wilkinson to see how the costume would fit together,” says Riley.
Later, the scene was recreated on a sound stage and incinerated. “I lived for that moment, to be able to bring that cover back to its burnt-out state,” says Riley.
